『蜻蛉日記』下巻の『霜枯れの』歌の成立事情

The Circumstance behind the Formation of the Simogareno Letter in the Third Volume of Kagerou Nikki

In this article, we pay a special attention to the documents relating to Hujiwarano Kanemichi and Hujiwarano Tōnori, who are the brothers of Hujiwarano Kaneie, and propose a novel interpretation of the letter of Kanemichi to the author of The Kagerou Nikki in October 974. In this new interpretation, we contend, the reasons why the author wrote about the letter, which was sent from Hujiwarano Kanemichi, who was a political opponent to her husband Hujiwarano Kaneie, a man of power during the era, can be elucidated as follows. At the end of August 973, the marital relationship had virtually come to an end since the married couple moved to a new place somewhere “Hirohata Nakagawa(広幡中川)” In February 974, Tōnori frequently visited the place of the author to ask the adopted daughter to marry him, which made him send the letter starting with Imasarani… to Kaneie. Furthermore, we conjecture that writing the letter from Kanemichi, the writer wanted to redeem the opportunity to have a romantic relationship with her husband once again by arousing his jealous. Next, the opening part of Kagerou Niki contains the remark, Tenka-no hito-no hintakaki-ya-to towan tameshi-ni-mo seyoka-shi ‘If you are asked what it would be to live a life with interactions with such noble people, this may be one such concrete example,’ which is the wording most compatible with the objective of the diary writing, revealed by the author. Thus, it must have been written as the very final part of the third volume of Kagerou Nikki. Writing about the letter from Hujiwarano Kaneie, the Kanpaku Ministry, led to the expression of the emotion of great Michitsuna-no Haha, and it is consistent with the objective of the diary writing mentioned in the opening part.